Theodore Theodore was born in July 1924 in Chicago, Illinois, the middle child of three children in the family. His parents were Greek immigrants; his father ran a restaurant in Chicago and the family suffered like everyone else in the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression]. During his senior year in high school, the war started in December [Annotator's Note: December 1941], his father died in January, and in February he forged his mother's signature to enlist in the Army Air Corps. Flying was a "new thing," and he didn't want to be in the infantry. At the time, all the pilot candidate slots were filled, and he knew he would either be a navigator or a bombardier. He graduated second of 400 students in the class of 1942. While waiting to hear from the Air Corps, Theodore was awarded a scholarship to Northwestern University in Chicago and began classes in August. In December, he got word that the Air Corps was ready for him; he was stricken with chicken pox, but completed his exams and passed, and reported to Miami Beach, Florida to begin his training. He went for basic training in California and bombing training in New Mexico. Back in California he was assigned to a ten man crew, and trained in a newly minted, but poorly built, aircraft. The crew deployed out of San Francisco, California.

The crew left from San Francisco, California, and Theodore Theodore remembers that during the overnight flight the aircraft drifted off course, but eventually arrived safely in Oahu, Hawaii. It took a couple of weeks for the plane to be outfitted with arms and ammunition, and Theodore left with the 90th Bomb Group [Annotator's Note: 90th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force], hedgehopping through the islands to New Guinea. He spent the year of 1943 and 1944 in the South Pacific. Theodore's first mission was a tough one for the brand new crew. They had a full bomb load and had to land on the island they were going to help secure. The air traffic was so dense that they had to circle for a long time and were nearly out of gas when they put down mid-airstrip and were lucky not to crash. Their first night mission was to "keep the Japanese awake" on the island of Yap. Aircraft were taking off every 15 minutes, and Theodore's was number seven. They got a break in the dense cloud cover, and were first to get a bomb to earth. Theodore hit gas tanks on the ground, and lit up the skies. The next day, he was promoted to first lieutenant, at only 19 years old. His next trips were in support of the ground troops, and the one worth mentioning was to bomb a building with a cross on it that they were assured was a bomb station. They took the aircraft in low, dropped the load, and the resulting explosion was so intense that their aircraft came close to going down.

The missions Theodore Theodore flew to Balikpapan, Borneo were "prime" experiences of the year he spent in the Pacific. He got up at midnight, got to the flight line at two in the morning, and flew until eight that night to drop bombs on the refineries. The 18 aircraft that went out on the first run encountered cloud cover and dropped no bombs. On their second mission, the same number went out, dropped their bombs, and were attacked on their way out; eight of the planes were lost. While on the way back, they sighted something in the water, and on close inspection found that it was four of their guys floating in their Mae Wests [Annotator's Note: pneumatically inflatable life vests]. Theodore's crew attempted to drop a ten man raft, but it inflated while it was being jettisoned, and wrapped around the tail of their plane. They couldn't go up or down, and they were nearing a Japanese-held island. Theodore remembers the plane circling the downed airmen while the crew debated what to do, and being instructed to put his flotation device on, because they were probably going to have to ditch the plane. He said he was so scared his mouth went dry. Fortunately, the raft broke loose, and they scrambled to get altitude and escape. The men in the water survived, and the incident made the papers in the United States. On the last mission to Balikpapan, the aircraft was shot up pretty bad, but nobody was hurt. On landing, however, the plane caught on some palm trees and crashed. Although one man had bruised ribs, ten of the 11 crew walked away unhurt. At that point, the American forces were beginning to prepare for the invasion of Japan and Theodore knew the Japanese were "brutal." He was offered a promotion to stay in the Air Corps, but he thought the odds were beginning to turn against him, and he decided to go home.

After returning to California, Theodore Theodore was sent to Denver, Colorado for two months where he had the job of emptying out the slot machines. He was allowed to re-enter college to study engineering at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois on the G.I. Bill in September 1945, and was officially discharged in October 1946. Theodore was in the reserves after his discharge, but got out before the war in Korea. About six months after he was discharged, he got a letter from the Attorney General of the Army saying there was money missing from the Nevada slot machines. Theodore wrote him back, saying, "You got the wrong guy." He was always with the officer of the day, and he was only there two months, and all they did was empty the machines. With a couple of other GIs [Annotator’s Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier], Theodore invested in real estate to build a theater that he designed during his last year of college. He needed money, and a friend of his mother's agreed to see his plans, and decided to back him financially. While he was at the man's house, he met the girl he later married. Theodore started an architectural partnership in 1949, and worked in that profession ever since.

Theodore Theodore's most memorable event of the war was being jumped by fighters while leaving Balikpapan [Annotator's Note: Balikpapan, Indonesia]. He said it was no joke to get shot up in a plane. He later added that he liked singing marching songs during basic training. He said he volunteered to fight in World War 2 because his prospects were poor and he felt he had to get into something. He said the war changed his life by putting him in a position to meet his wife, and her connections meant he could "start at the top." Today, he feels his military service was a great experience, and is grateful that he came out healthy. He thinks it is more important now than ever that there are institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] with the mission of teaching the lessons of the war.